The storage organs may be true roots or modified stems, such as rootstock, tubers, corms and bulbs, from time roots and tubers have furnished food for man. The underground vegetables may be classified in two groups – (i) roots and (ii) underground stems.

Sweet Potato:

Ipomoea batatas (Linn) Poir.; Eng.: Sweet potato; Hindi: Shakarkand, Mitha alu; Family: Convolvulaceae. The sweet potato is a native tropical America. Now it is widespread in all tropics and some parts of the temperate zone and found abundantly in the South Seas, China, Japan, Indonesia and India. It is cultivated throughout India.

The plant is a twining, trailing perennial vine with adventitious roots that end in swollen tubers (tuberous roots). The sweet potato requires a sandy soil and a warm moist climate. The plants are grown as annuals and propagated vegetatively by using vine cuttings.

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People in various parts of India seem to have a traditional preference for one (white) or the other (red) colour of the skin of the tuber (tuberous root). In the Punjab white sweet potato is hardly grown, while in Karnataka it is the white varieties which are preferred. In other parts of India both red and white varieties are popular. “Pusa Suffaid” and “Pusa Sunehri” are supposed to be best varieties in yield, quality and nutritive value.

Uses:

The sweet potatoes are eaten raw, boiled and roasted. They are not only a common vegetables, but they are used for canning, dehydrating, flour manufacture, and as a source of starch, glucose syrup and alcohol. Sweet potatoes are also used for curry preparation.

Tapioca:

Manihot esculenta Crantz; Eng.: Tapioca, Manioc. Cassava; Hindi-Sakarkanda, Maravuli; Family- Euphorbiacea. In acreage and total production of tubers, tapioca is the foremost tuber crop in India. Kerala is the only where tapioca is extensively cultivated. Kerala is the chief producing area with more than half a million acres under the crop.

Tapioca is a perennial plant, and some of the branching varieties, if allowed to grow indefinitely, attain the size of a small tree. Under cultivation, the plants are harvested from the eighth to tenth month after planting.

The plants have tall, thin straight stems, which are marked along their length by numerous leaf scars. It is native of South America, but is widely grown in all tropical and subtropical regions. Next to the sweet potato, the tapioca, is the most important of the tropical root crops and furnishes the basic food for millions of people. According to MacMillan it was introduced by the Portuguese in the seventeenth century while Burkill states that it was introduced from South America into India in 1840.

Kerala with more than half a million acres under the crop remains the chief tapioca-producing state of the country. The crop thrives best under a warm, humid climate. The average yield per acre in India is about five to six tonnes of raw tubers. Two good hybrids produced in the country are H96 and H405.

Cultivation:

It is mainly a tropical crop. It thrives best under a warm, humid climate, such as exists on the West Coast of South India, in Malaysia, Java and other places. The crop does not cold, and even a light frost kills all the leaves.

The crop can be grown up to an elevation of 900 ms land much in feet, in the tropical belt. The crop is usually harvested from the eighth to tenth month after planting by pulling out the plants with hands. The tubers are then severed from the stem with a sharp knife, collected in baskets and marketed.

Preservation:

As the fresh tubers do not keep in good condition for more than a week, they are usually preserved as dry chips. The tubers are cut into thin round slices, and dried in the sun after parboiling (by plunging the slices in boiling water for about 10 minutes.)

Uses:

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Tapioca forms the chief time of food for a considerable proportion of the population on the west coast of South India. It is commonly used as fresh tubers, boiled and prepared in the same way as potatoes. The tapioca tubers are exploited commercially to obtain starch, sago, semolina and flour.

Cassava:

Tapioca can be said the second staple food of the Kerala state. Deep fried chips are very delicious and tasty. It is prepared like potato chips. Out of tapioca dried flour a delicious preparation known as “putt” is made and used as a common breakfast in Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu. Dried flour is also used for making papads, wafers, glucose and starch.

The true yams belong to the genus Dioscorea. The most commonly cultivated species is Dioscorea alata Linn. They are climbing shrubs. Usually cultivated throughout India. They possess large storage roots. They require deep soil, but are quite drought-resistant.

Uses:

The tuberous roots are used as vegetable. They make the cheap food of millions of people all over the world. They are also used to feed livestock.

Carrot:

An annual or biennial herb. The pinnately compound leaves are very characteristic. The numerous varieties of carrots differ in size, shape, colour and quality. A deep sandy loam gives the best results. Most of the food is stored in the outer cortical portions of the taproot. They are chiefly grown in the Punjab. Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh.

Variety:

Uses:

Carrots are eaten raw or cooked. They are also used for flavouring soups and stews. The yellow colouring matter extracted from the roots is used for colouring butter. It is good cattle feed.

Radish:

Raphanus sativus Linn., Eng.: Radish., Hindi: Muli., Family: Cruciferae (Brassicaceae) They are annual or biennial plants with a fleshy tap root. They are grown all over the world, and are highly esteemed for their pungent flavour. Many varieties are cultivated differing in size, shape and colour of the roots. In India, they are chiefly cultivated in Uttar Pradesh, the Punjab, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Variety 1:

Pusa Chetki-A hot season variety for extreme early and late sowings. Roots medium long, white stumpy and soft in texture. Ready for harvesting in 40-45 days.

Varity 2:

Pusa Rashmi-Roots white with green tinge on top, 10-45 cms in length. Suitable for early sowing in winter. Tolerates slightly higher temperature. Good size mots ready in about 55-60 days.

Variety 3:

Variety 4:

Pusa Himani-Roots semi-stumpy, greenish at the top, white, crisp and sweet flavoured with mild pungency, Top short. Suitable for spring sowing in plains and spring and summer sowing in the hills. Matures in 55 days.

Turnip:

Uses:

The roots are eaten as vegetable. They are eaten raw or cooked.

Potato:

Solanum tuberosum Linn., Eng.: Potato., Hindi : Alu ; Family: Solanaceae. This is one of the most important food plants of the world. It is native of South America now grown, chiefly in Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Punjab, West Bengal and Bihar.

Potato is also a cash crop of great importance. With proper care, it can be stored for several months and transported without much damage from the producing centres to the consuming areas. The crop is mainly suited to colder latitudes and temperate zones. India accounts for only 0.7 per cent of the world production.

The important potato producing countries are Russia (32.0 per cent), Poland (14.6 per cent), West Germany (10.5 per cent), France (5.7 per cent), the U.S.A. (4.6 per cent), United Kingdom (3.9 per cent), Czechoslovakia (3.0 per cent) and China (0.8 per cent).

The potato was introduced into India in the seventeenth century. The tubers are consumed in India as a vegetable rather than as a staple food. The per capita annual consumption of potatoes is estimated about 4.08 kg, while in some of the Western countries the figure is as high as 199.584 kg. With an area of 2, 84,085.36 ha the annual production is estimated at 1,674,000 tonnes.

About 90% of the crop is grown in the north Indian plains in winter and the rest in hills the summer. In the Nilgiris, the crop is cultivated all the year round. In the plains, two successive crops are sometimes raised on the same land.

The commonly grown varieties are “Phulwa”, “Darjeeling Red Round”, “Up-to-date”, and “Gola”. Several newly evolved high-yielding hybrids, such as 208, 209, 2236 and No. 45, have been found to be very suitable for cultivation in north Indian plains.

The plant is a spreading annual. It has pinnately compound leaves, fibrous roots, and numerous rhizomes which are swollen at the tip to form the tubers.

They can be cultivated in different soils and in many climates. The best environment is a cool moist climate, and a rich soil. They are usually propagated vegetatively by means of tubers, or parts of tubers, the so-called “seed potatoes”. The essential parts of the seed potatoes used propagation are the eyes.

The eyes are really groups of buds situated in the axils of aborted leaves. There is usually a central bud in each eye, surrounded by smaller lateral ones. The eyes are more numerous toward the apex of the tuber.

The larger the piece, the more vigorous is the vegetative growth, and there is greater yield. In any case at least one eye must be present. The tubers require a rest period of several weeks for maturation. Potatoes contain about 78% water, 18% carbohydrates, 2% proteins, 9.1% fat and 1% potash.

Variety 1. Kufri Alankar:

Flourshes well in the plains of Northern India. Plants are tall, erect and vigorous. Flowers white in Tubers are oval, white with medium deep to fleet eyes. Flesh is white with floury texture on cooking. It takes 80-90 days to nature. In the plains, the average yield is about 250- 300 q/ha. Early variety.

Variety 2. Kufri Jyoti:

It is most suitable for hills and plains of Northern India. The plants are tall, erect, vigorous and medium compact and the flowers are white and abundant. The tubers are oval, white with fleet eyes. Flesh is dull white. It takes about 100 days in the plains and 120 days in hills to mature. Average yield 150. Early variety.

The plants are tall, vigorous, erect, open and the flowers have blue purple colour with white tips. The tubers are round oval slightly flattened with fleet eyes. The flesh is dull white and texture floury on cooking. It takes about 100-100 days to mature in the plains and 140-150 days in hills. It yields 230 quintals per hectare on an average. Medium variety.

Jerusalem Artichoke:

This is a native plant of North America, now grown in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. It is a perennial sunflower 1.8 to 3.6 m in height. The tubers, somewhat resembles potatoes, but with larger eyes.

Uses:

The tubers are cooked, pickled or eaten raw. The carbohydrate food is in the form of insulin, which makes a good food for diabetics. It is also used as a source of levulose and industrial alcohol. The plants are also used as a forage crop.

Taro:

Colocasia esculenta (Linn) Schott., Eng.: Taro, Arum., Hindi : Arvi, Ghuiyan, Kachalu; Family: Araceae. This is an herb. It is native of South-East Asia but cultivated throughout India. It has huge peltate leaves. The tops of the corms are used for vegetative propagation. They require a wet rich soil and a long season in which they mature.

Uses:

The corms are edible. They are roasted or boiled to destroy the acrid calcium oxalate crystals in the raw tubers. The leaves are also used as vegetable.

Onion:

Allium cepa Linn; Eng.: Onion; Hindi: Piyaz., Family : Amaryllidaceae. The onion is the food plant in which the food is stored in a bulb. It is the native of Southern Asia or the Mediterranean region. They are cultivated over large areas in temperate and even tropical climate. They thrive best in cool moist-regions with a sandy soil.

Variety 1:

Pusa Red-Medium-sized, round red bulbs, less pungent than moist red varieties. Keeps very well in storage. Characteristically free from bolting tendency. Short to intermediate day length type.

Variety 2:

Early Grano-Bulbs large, yellow with mild pungency. Storage life is rather short.

Garlic:

Allium sativum Linn; Eng.: Garlic; Hindi: Lasanm, Lahasun; Family: Amaryllidaceae. This is a perennial plant with narrow flat leaves and several small bulbs, known as cloves (puti), enclosed in a white skin.

Uses:

The bulbs are used as a condiment and flavouring substance. Garlic powder is extent.

Variety:

Kufri Sheetman – It is best smited for the plains of western Rajasthan, Haryana, and sively used as a condiment and also serves as carminative and gastric stimulant. They also possess antiseptic and bacterial properties.

East India Lotus:

Nelumbo nucifera., Hindi: Kamal., Family: Nymphaeaceac.

Commonly Found in Northern India. A common aquatic verb with large, pink flowers. The rhizomes, seeds and young leaves eaten as vegetable.

White Lotus:

Nymphaea nouchali., Hindi: Kamal Kakri., Family: Nympheaceae.

Commonly found in Northern India. This is a floating aquatic herb. The rhizomes are eaten as vegetable after cooking.

Kaseru:

Cyperus esculenta., Hindi: Kaseru., Family: Cyperaceae.

Commonly found on the muddy banks of the ponds. The rhizomes and tuberous roots are eaten raw and other cooking.